CNBC's Jim Goldman reports that we might see a Zune smartphone from Microsoft, a pink one no less, soon. Here are the details of the report:

"I'm hearing from a good source that Microsoft is ready to give a major facelift to the company's Zune music player that could mean its evolution into a new smart phone from the company.

My source says that the new device falls under the codename "Pink" and that it will combine the company's Zune and technology from Microsoft's [MSFT 20.20 -0.29 (-1.42%) ] purchase of Danger Inc., the company that brought us the Sidekick flip phone available on T-Mobile.

As an aside, Danger's co-founder, Andy Rubin, took a job at Google and he was the driving force behind that company's Android mobile operating system, now powering that new G1 phone from T-Mobile. (Ironic that Google [GOOG 289.89 -2.20 (-0.75%) ] took Andy Rubin, developed a phone for T-Mobile, whose corporate color is pink, and that Microsoft would code-name its smart phone project "Pink.")

I'm hearing that a prototype of the new Pink could be unveiled as soon as the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but that it could be pushed back into a February release. Some reports suggest the phone could be released at the 3GSM conference and that a wide shipment release could be a year away. The idea, my source says, is to develop a product that offers true competition to Apple's iPhone which continues to enjoy huge market momentum."